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This is the sixteenth & final scene in my series of The Christian journey illustrations & the fourth one set in autumn, which represents older age in the man’s life; the so-called “twilight years”, inevitably moving towards physical death… and what lies beyond! In this picture we see the man with dark brown hair & a green shirt ascended to heaven, standing next to Jesus, where his resurrection body looks a lot like his youthful body.

In the centre of the scene is the earth, surrounded by a yellow glow. The golden cube in the top centre is the new Jerusalem descending, as stated in Revelation 21:2 (NIV), “I [the apostle John] saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” The rest of the description of the new Jerusalem is presented below [1].

The picture shows the two different directions people can go once they physically die here on earth: either ascending into heaven or else falling into the eternal fires of hell. We can see angels accompanying various people as they ascend into heaven. These human beings have believed in Jesus (while living on earth), become Christians, and go to be with Him when they die. The Bible promises that all people who believe in Jesus will go to be with Him when they die [2]. In contrast, the people who do not believe in Jesus & reject Him as Lord and Saviour during their lives on earth fall into the eternal fires of hell, along with the fallen angels (or daemons) who long ago rejected God and followed Satan instead.

I have included a well known British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, & atheist activist in the bottom left of the picture! But I sincerely hope that he will change his mind, even if that is in the very last moment of his earthly life, and accept Jesus as his Lord & Saviour. I hope this is true for all people on the earth: that no-one misses out on eternal life in heaven, rather than eternal damnation in hell, but that is each individual’s choice to make.

My intention is that this picture acts as a warning to anyone who has, or is thinking of, rejecting Jesus’s offer of eternal life, because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

Bible description of the New Jersalem
[1]
Revelation 21:9-27 (NIV)
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia© in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[d] thick.[e] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[f] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Bible verses regarding Heaven
[2]
John 14:2–3 (NIV)
[Jesus said, during His Last Supper] “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Jesus tells his disciples that He is leaving them soon and that they cannot follow Him right away. Sensing their overwhelming panic, He begins Chapter 14 with the famous words, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Jesus explains that His departure is actually for their benefit: He is going ahead to secure and prepare their eternal home. The promise of the “Father’s house” was given to anchor the disciples’ faith during the darkest hours of their lives (Jesus’ upcoming crucifixion). It transformed His departure from a tragic abandonment into a purposeful preparation for their ultimate reunion.

Luke 23:43 (NIV)
[Jesus’ personal promise to the repentant thief on the cross] “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” By promising “today you will be with me in paradise,” Jesus assures the thief that entry into God’s presence does not depend on a lifetime of good deeds, but on faith in Him (Jesus), and that the transition happens the very day we die.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (NIV)
[Apostle Paul writes] “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven… and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

John 11:25 (NIV)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”